Refrigerator drive utilizing waste heat



United States Patent O REFRIGERATOR DRIVE UTILIZING WASTE HEAT Philip B. Keller, Los Angeles,lCalif., assignor to Robert T. Collier, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 13, 1954, Serial No. 455,480

1 Claim. (Cl. 62-238) This invention relates to systems for utilizing the waste heat present in the cooling systems of heat-producing engines, and in particular it relates to cooling systems of the vapor-liquid cooling type.

In the conventional vapor-liquid engine cooling system the heat-producing portions of the engine are partially or completely surrounded by passages, often referred to as a jacket, providing .for the flow of a vaporizable liquid coolant. In operation the heat produced by the engine is transferred to the coolant causing boiling of the coolant and yielding a vapor. Hence the temperature of the engine may be controlled byselecting a Vaporizable coolant of suitable boiling point. The resultant vapor or steam is collected in the top portion of the jacket and is drawn ott. Usually the vapor is condensed and the condensate is returned to the jacket through another opening and the entire cooling system is closed from the atmosphere except for a vent to purge the system of non-condensable gases such as cylinder head gases.

In this conventional vapor-liquid cooling system the heat contained in the vapor is lost to the atmosphere in the condenser. Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a method of utilizing the heat content of this vapor or steam rather than wasting it.

Another object of this invention is to employ the vapor resulting from the boiling of the coolant in a vapor-liquid cooling system to drive a turbine, whereby mechanical power is produced.

A further object of this invention is to use the waste heat from such a cooling system to operate a compressor-type refrigerator.

Also, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of cooling the cab and/or body of a vehicle a having a heat-producing propulsive system without the consumption of extra power.

Other objects of the invention and the various features of construction will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following specification and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, there is illustrated diagrammatically one embodiment of a system in which the present invention is practiced.

The drawing shows an engine 10 with a coolant outlet pipe or conduit 11 and a coolant inlet pipe or conduit 12. The invention is applicable to any type of engine which produces unwanted heat that must be removed by p some type of cooling system. A typical example would be the internal combustion engine used in the'commercial motor truck. Therein a cylinder block 10a and a head 10b are cast with passages 13 providing for the flow of a coolant, including a space at the top of the head for the collection of the vapor resulting from the boiling of the liquid coolant. These coolant passages lCC 13 which usually surround the heat-producing parts of the engine are often called the jacket of the engine. A vaporizable liquid coolant is supplied to the engine through the inlet pipe 12.

The vapor which has collected at the top of the engine is taken oi through the outlet pipe 11. The energy contained by this vapor can be used to operate a refrigeration system by the conversion of this energy to mechanical motion in a turbine 14. Often some liquid particles are trapped in the vapor during the boiling process and are carried along with the vapor through the pipe 11. It is desirable that such liquid particles be prevented from entering the turbine 14; therefore the liquid-bearing vapor pipe 11 from the engine 10 is directed to a conventional vapor-liquid separator 15. In the preferred method of operation of the invention the liquid which is separated out from the vapor is returned to the engine jacket 13 through a pipe 16 which leads into the coolant inlet pipe 12.

The vapor resulting from the boiling of the coolant in the engine is fed to the turbine 14 by means of the pipe 11, the separator 15 and a pipe 17. The turbine 14 may be conventional in design, and in the embodiment illustrated in the drawing its output shaft 18 is coupled to a compressor 19 of a conventional refrigeration system 20 by a gear reduction unit 21. The compressor 19 is connected with a cooling unit 22 of the refrigeration system by refrigerant pipes 23 and 24. The exhaust of the turbine is condensed in a condenser 25 which is connected with the turbine by a pipe 26 and the condensate is removed from the lower part of the condenser through a pipe 27.

Liquid coolant may be supplied to the engine via the inlet pipe 12 from any suitable source. However, in the preferred embodiment of the invention the cooling cycle is closed andl the condensate from the vapor condenser 25 and the separated liquid from the vaporliquid separator 15 are used again in cooling the engine. In the form of the invention illustrated, the separated liquid is returned to the jacket through the pipes 12, 16 and 27, and a pump 28 located opposite the bottom of the condenser 25 is set in the return pipe 27 to return the liquefied coolant to the engine via the return pipe 27 and the inlet pipe 12. A vent tube 30 at the top of the condenser 25 places the condenser under atmospheric pressure and serves also to vent non-condensable gases from the system.

In the operation of the invention, the vapor or steam produced by the engine 10, after any liquid particles which have been carried oi by the vapor are removed in the vapor-liquid separator 15, is used to drive the turbine 14, the mechanical output of the turbine supplying the power necessary to operate the refrigeration system 20 by driving the compressor 19 of such system through the speed-reducing unit 21. The invention as described is especially adapted ,to provide portable refrigeration such as that required by present-day motor trucks used for the transportation of fresh vegetables and meats. However, the invention may be operated with stationary refrigerating systems utilizing any available vapor or steam source.

Since other embodiments of this invention may be made in the light of the present teachings, and within the spirit of the patent claim, without, however, depart- 0 ing from the broad inventive concept here presented,

it is intended to cover such modifications, also.

I claim as my invention:

In a refrigerator apparatus, the combination of: a heat-producing system having a coolant jacket; a coolant Patented Jan. 20, 1959 inlet. and a coolant outlet. in, saisi, 521.91661; a refrigerator having a refrigerant compressor; a turbine operatively connected with said compressor, said turbine having a vapor inlet and an exhaust; means connecting said coolant outlet to said vapor inlet; a condenser disposed to receive and condense the vapor from said turbine eX- haust; conduit means connecting said condenserto saidV coolant inlet; and pump means in said conduit means to return condensed liquid to said coolant jacket.

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1905 

